Alienware Driver Updates M17x R4

Hey all,

Running into issues with driver updates for my 7970m. Whenever I attempt an update directly via AMD, I lose access to the discrete card, since the switchable capability my laptop expects is no longer there. The dell drivers themselves are quite old (2013) & they are definitely beginning to show their age, particularly with Witcher 3 right now. Any ideas how I can update this card to a later version without bricking my switchables? Or if necessary, can I force my PC to only use the discrete and circumvent the switchable graphics software?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I never had any issues with updating my 7970m drivers beyond the ones that Dell hands out. The most recent ones provided by AMD (I believe it was 14.12) worked just fine and Enduro switching still worked. Just make sure that you update the Intel drivers as well and that you do them first and that you grab the Mobility variant from the AMD website.

You can also force your laptop to use only the discrete graphics card which may offer negligible performance gains, I generally found that it also made driver maintenance easier as I no longer had to worry about drivers for both graphics devices.

 

Hey Eddie,

Thanks for the reply!

Did you update your intel drivers via the intel site? Or did you use the latest dell variant still? Also, how did you force it? fn+F7 seems to switch between VGA and this mode. If i continued using it, the discrete card eventually stopped working!

 

I used the drivers provided by Intel. They never gave me any issues.

I switched to dedicated only mode with Fn+F7. You'll need to reinstall your dGPU's drivers in that mode. I've never had an issue with the dGPU not working after a random time period, my laptop was in dedicated only mode for a little over a year.

You can also do it using the guide found here http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...aphics-switching-m17x-r4-radeon-7970m.705250/ but it is slightly more involved.

 

I cannot switch between the two, but have also found a problem using Intel's site to update my Intel driver. I now am getting my updates through Dell. I believe I have to update the OSD so that I can switch using Fn+F7. I have also updated my BIOS as it has been recommended numerous times to update BIOS when updating the drivers (there might be issues with the updated drivers not working properly if the BIOS is not updated with them).

How do you force the Intel HD off? I would love to properly switch to the AMD. Will this cause any (unintended) issues? I don't see or know how to do so through BIOS and am reluctant to do so with Device Manager. Also, when updating the AMD driver, the CCC now does not work. I realize I may have to completely uninstall my drivers and reinstall them.

Thanks for any additional info.

-J

 

then i suggest you uninstall both GPU's and lean install them from the start, id say use the laest driver from Dell for the R4 and then once switching is enabled use it to upgrade the drivers

The only "unintended" issue that may happen with intel gPU disabled is poor battery life.... with the "hybrid mode enabed - igp+gGPU i get close to 5 hours